Catholic Doctors Tackle How to Survive in an 'Increasingly Toxic Culture'

At the annual Catholic Medical Association conference, Bishop Robert Vasa says the current health-care crisis is ‘a clarion call’ for Catholic doctors in the U.S.

TIM DRAKE

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Conscience rights' protection and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services contraception mandate were the topics foremost on the minds of medical professionals gathered in St. Paul, Minn., for the Catholic Medical Association’s (CMA) 81st educational conference.

The Sept. 26-29 conference, which drew more than 600 attendees, featured prominent speakers who shared the history of the present cultural battle and how to bear witness to the truth and bring it to bear on the practice of medicine.

Papal biographer George Weigel spoke on the crisis of modernity, author Brian Gail spoke on the life sciences’ challenges, First Things editor Russell Reno spoke about bringing faith into the public square, and Jesuit Father Robert Spitzer, president of the Napa Institute, presented ways to use the new media for evangelization.

“The Catholic Church stands in the way of the sexual revolution — efforts to redefine marriage, access to abortion and reproductive technology and mercy killings,” said Reno. “Our increasingly aggressive adversaries will continue to use their political muscle to push us out of the way.”

“These are critical times,” said Bishop Robert Vasa of Santa Rosa, Calif. “Whether or not a physician is practicing in line with the teachings of the Church, they’re going to be forced to do something they may not want to do.”

“This is a clarion call for America,” added Bishop Vasa. “American Catholics, and in particular American Catholic physicians, have to wake up to the fact that they can no longer presume that their individual choices about how they practice medicine in this country will be respected.”

“We are in a very dangerous crisis,” agreed John Brehany, executive director of the CMA. “We see a deeply hostile government entering into the health-care sphere. We see an increasingly toxic culture. We know we’re heading into a time of great challenges. The Western world is facing economic challenges built up by social programs combined with the aging baby-boom generation. That is daunting.”

Physicians, nurses and medical students at the conference expressed similar concerns and anxiety about their ability to carry out their work.

Dr. James Brooke from Dickinson, N.D., spoke about a doctor’s ability to provide authentic health care for women.

“I’m not interested in providing birth-control pills for everyone,” said Brooke. “It’s not quality care to provide birth-control pills for women. That’s a lie.”

“Yet if you stand up and talk about these things, you’re painted as a bigot.”

Dr. Jeff Blickenstaff, a rural family physician from Perham, Minn., admitted that he is very concerned about the HHS contraception mandate and how it will impact his practice. Blickenstaff said he hasn’t prescribed contraception since his conversion to Catholicism in 1999.

“Catholic doctors, nurses and hospital administrators are being attacked because others cannot hear the tiny cries of the defenseless,” said Teresa Collett, a professor of law at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul. “The youngest of all is not a creature of value or concern, except for its utility for scientific experiments.”

Collett provided an overview of the conscience-protection rule put into place by the federal government in 2008, which was later rescinded by the Obama administration.

“The 2008 regulation offered a remarkably broad understanding of protection for all health-care personnel and volunteers,” described Collett. “One of the first acts of the new administration was to withdraw those protections. The new rule gutted the 2008 rule.”

CMA Boot Camp

According to Dr. John Lane, CMA's president, when the association’s members were surveyed, they indicated that the most pressing issue was the formation of medical students. To that end, the CMA is offering a new program to help Catholic medical students. The association has created the CMA Boot Camp, a four-day course offered in partnership with St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, where students will receive an intensive immersion in the life of the faith, the teachings of the Church and practical training on how to apply these in the art and science of medicine. The inaugural Boot Camp will be offered in June 2013.

“One thing a lot of people don’t consider is that, as they’re trying to expand health care for everyone, they’re asking doctors to violate their consciences,” said Tim Jay, a second-year medical student at the University of Minnesota-Duluth.

Jay was one of 67 medical students attending the conference.

“The government has stripped conscience protection, and medical schools are asking students to look at ethics as relative," Jay said. "There is a demand for principled doctors, but our system isn’t producing them.”

“Physicians are being coerced to do things that they know are wrong, such as prescribing contraceptives, abortion or prescribing a lethal dose of medication,” said Bishop Vasa. “They’re told that their individual conscience doesn’t matter, that they must do these things, and if they do not, they may lose their ability to practice medicine.”

“Those who are standing on the sidelines who think the mandate will not touch them are either naive or foolish,” added Bishop Vasa. “They may think they don’t have a dog in this fight, but it won’t stop at contraception.”

In many ways, the conference had the feel of a retreat, with many speakers concentrating on the spiritual aspect of practicing medicine.

“Catholic health care needs more saints like Dr. Gianna Beretta Molla and Dr. Joseph Moscati, and they weren’t produced by conferences like this, but through their daily work,” said Father Joseph Johnson, pastor of the Church of the Holy Family in St. Louis Park, Minn., “We need to learn to love better.”

Other speakers, such as Legionary Father John Bartunek and Bishop Lee Piché, stressed the importance of witnessing the Catholic faith.

“The world is becoming increasingly hostile to the Gospel,” auxiliary Bishop Piché of St. Paul and Minneapolis told the members. “We are called to be witnesses by carrying out the task of living out a daily martyrdom.”

There was a significant emphasis on upholding the Church’s teachings in medicine, especially with regard to the life issues.

“There will be no renewal without a bold proclamation of the eternal truths regarding the sacred transmission of human life,” Gail, the author of Fatherless, told the attendees. “You are at the epicenter of this culture war. You are who this remnant turns to for help. In the face of the life-sciences revolution and the soul- and life-deadening consequences of abortion, contraception and in vitro fertilization, advance a culture of life in your practices.”

Please doctors, hold firm to your duty as bringers of life and health!
Do not succumb to Caesar’s demands.

Posted by DJ Hesselius on Wednesday, Oct, 3, 2012 10:50 AM (EDT):

@ Marie: Um, no, I’m not a physician, but I have had some contact with this particular physician many moons ago. It had to do with the IUD. I can’t quite recall why or how, but I learned he had information that stated the IUD was not an abortafacient, and I wrote to him on that issue. He graciously provided the information…which of course stated quite clearly that the IUD may have a post-fertilization effect, etc., etc. Upon further questioning, he stated that the post-fertilization effect (aka, abortafacient effect) was very, very rare. He also noted he had been to seminary and was quite satisfied that Church teaching did in fact allow for contraception (based on conscience and all that.)

I brought the information up to our pastor—within the context of NFP (no, I didn’t “rat out” the physician—I didn’t mention his name even, but I was able to figure out that physician and I belong to the same parish at that time. It was a parish of over 3000 families at that point.) Our pastor said that he too had once questioned the physcician on his IUD services (especially as the physician openly advertised them). The physician had provided the same information to the pastor. Our pastor was satisfied that the IUD was not an abortafacient and was allowed within Church teaching (based on the “conscience clause” if you will.)

There was even an article in one of al ocal newspapaper many moons ago about Catholic physicians and contraception. No physcian agreed to be quoted, although our then bishop (now deceased) was, something about the issue of contraception and conscience being very “complex” and people can’t make sweeping statements about whether or not it is permitted by the Church.

There is not much more I can do at this point. Contraception is deeply inbedded in our culture and our Church.

Traveling Txn: When certain treatments offer more harmful consequences than any perceived good, then a physician has the moral obligation not to prescribe them.

There are serious medical and social ills associated with abortion and artificial birth control. Just because someone wants these treatments doesn’t mean they are good for the patient.

Posted by Quo Vadis on Wednesday, Oct, 3, 2012 9:39 AM (EDT):

Traveling txn - You are the voice of relativism in medicine. A lived Gospel will respect the rights of all, including patients, but does not condone killing by a doctor (via assisted suicide or abortion). These are simple and beautiful truths - you, sir or madam, are the unyielding totalitarian we see so often in the medical field.
.
It does no harm to a patient for a thoughtful and principled doctor to refuse to prescribe contraception, (they sell condoms for a pittance in any drug aisle), nor to perform assisted suicides or abortions. Those life-ending practices do not belong in modern medicine, but in the pharmacopeia of Dr. Mengele. Also, assisted reproduction technology has fueled divorce, redefinitions of marriage, and has created a whole class of humans whose conception occurred in a sterile petri dish rather than in the loving wombs of their mothers, from whom another class of humans, (the aborted), have been ripped asunder. Abominable!

Posted by lisag on Wednesday, Oct, 3, 2012 8:42 AM (EDT):

I much rather have a doctor who practiced with their Catholic faith in mind than one who is required to meet government quotas and who is tied to health insurance cost objectives. If Obama care is not overturned there will be more pressure on doctors to perform in a more robotic way and not in the art of medicine.

Posted by Lin on Tuesday, Oct, 2, 2012 8:36 PM (EDT):

There is no way a practicing Catholic can vote for Obama. Pray! Pray! Pray!

Posted by Marie on Tuesday, Oct, 2, 2012 4:40 PM (EDT):

DJ Hesselius,
You should contact this doctor and tell him you’re a conservative doctor and a Catholic also and have really appreciated some of his letters to the editor over the years, especially the recent one on X and last year’s one on Y! You have been somewhat perplexed though, by his vasectomy-provision services and wondered if he might not be aware of the Catholic teaching regarding vasectomy and other sterilization procedures - which would not be unusual as there’s been little to no actual teaching on the Catholic ‘teaching’ about this. You would be delighted if you could remedy that by sharing with him some information regarding all this so he’s fully informed on relevant Church teaching and can reconsider his current practice in light of this teaching - a teaching which you promise actually makes a lot of sense when properly explained. Some doctors like himself have switched to vasectomy reversals after becoming better aware of Church teaching on vasectomies.

You could call him or handwrite a letter with perhaps a followup phone call. I would highly encourage you to do this and then recognize that if he doesn’t request the info or a meeting or promptly change his practice, it is not because you failed (so don’t be too disappointed or surprised). It is hard enough to change one’s own behavior, let alone someone else’s practice in a big way! If you reach out to him more in the spirit of offering him new information or a different perspective, he may feel more comfortable accepting and considering it. He may well oppose abortion and figure that this is his offering towards limiting it so if you do get a chance to speak with him, it might be best to talk less and listen more. It might be best to include some info or weblinks in your letter to him so that he has it there even if he doesn’t reply to you and can pull out that letter with its links 6 months from now or a year from now if he then feels moved to, without having to disclose that he’s thinking about this.

Good luck (and I hope you do it)! Pray for the Holy Spirit to guide you….and him.

Posted by Maggie on Tuesday, Oct, 2, 2012 3:20 PM (EDT):

Do I really want to go to medical school in a world such as this? I want to become a 100% Pro-Life doctor but will I even make it in the front door let alone get a chance to be fired, black listed, and lose my liscence because I refuse to take life and harm people? I know God gave me a talent for medicine but will I ever get to use it?

Posted by Thomas on Tuesday, Oct, 2, 2012 2:47 PM (EDT):

If they’re unwilling to meet the standards that the Hippocratic Oath holds them to, they don’t deserve the title of “doctors.”

Posted by Traveling Txn on Tuesday, Oct, 2, 2012 1:14 PM (EDT):

Being in a medical profession, I think this article is a load of bunk. You are supposed to care for the patient based on their needs, when religion comes into the mix with medicine, the religion you have to acknowledge is that of the patient not your own, because that is the one that is important to the patient. If you cant handle practicing patient centered care you may be in the wrong profession.

Posted by Blake on Tuesday, Oct, 2, 2012 11:50 AM (EDT):

Good article. I sense that slowly but surely the Church and it’s members are waking up and starting to take the threat we face more seriously everyday and by the way more adamately as we approach the election. How many of those “Catholics” that voted for this administration last election can be turned around to vote the “right” way this time? What times we live in! Come on Catholics! Let’s have at least a 75% Catholic vote this time to turn this evel around.!! Pray pray pray!!

Posted by Kathleen on Tuesday, Oct, 2, 2012 11:49 AM (EDT):

DJ Hesselius ,
Sadly, there are numerous Catholics who are conservative politically, but who turn a deaf ear to Church teachings.Church teachings are neither conservative nor liberal, and not at all political.
For most of us, Church teaching is a bit uncomfortable. Which is how it should be.

Posted by DJ Hesselius on Monday, Oct, 1, 2012 5:24 PM (EDT):

Some years ago, maybe no more than 10, there was an article in the paper (and I think a live radio broadcast) of a noted physician in our town who is Catholic and does “procedure” medicine (wart removal, some aesthetic/skin care items) performing a vasectomy on an unmarried young (in this 20’s) man. The young man had no known genetic issues that might have made the vasectomy somewhat understandable—he just wanted to make sure than he had no children even though he apparently did like to enjoy himself with women’s company. This particular physician also does IUD insertion and advertises his “no scalple vasectomy” procedures via highway billboards.

Interestingly enough, the physican is also a political conservative. I’ve seen his occasional letters to the editor in the paper and quite like them; however, I can’t help but wonder about his conflict of interest on the matter on contraception.

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